January 19, 2008

ADA, Ohio - The Bluffton University track and field teams opened up their 2008 indoor campaigns on Friday, January 18, in the second Friday Night Series Meet at Ohio Northern. Competing against a talented group of larger schools that included the University of Dayton, the University of Findlay and Ashland, the men placed sixth and the women finished seventh.

Leading the men with five points was sophomore Jason Fisher (Rockford/Parkway) who picked up five points for the Beavers. Fisher placed fifth in the shot put (46-06.25) and eighth in the weight throw (42-03.25).

A pair of men's relay teams tallied 10 points for Bluffton with their third place showing in the 4x200 and sixth place finish in the 4X400. The 4x200 squad consisted of Rex Brown (Wauseon/Pettisville), Zach Kerber (Lima/Elida), Steve Havens (Fremont/Lakota) and Robert Johnson (Columbus/Marion-Franklin). It scored six points with a time of 1:44.15, while the 4x400 team added four points following its time of 3:42.88. Members of the 4x400 team included Tyler Fairchild (Toledo/Whitmer), Ben Althaus (Delhi, NY/Delaware Academy), Mike Timpe (Wauseon/Pike-Delta-York) and Collin Wagner (Pettisville/Pettisville). Althaus also added a point with his eighth place finish in the 500 meters (1:13.11).

For the women, senior Sarah Humphrey (Upper Sandusky) paced Bluffton with five points. She placed fourth in the 5,000 meters with a time of 20:09.76. Also scoring for the Beavers was Ashley Smith (Delta/Delta) who finished fifth in the high jump (4-06.75).

Bluffton returns to action on Friday, January 25, 2008, when the Beavers travel to Columbus for the Capital Invitational. The meet is slated to start at 5:30 p.m.

-BEAVERS-